Interacting with local people is a favorite part of visiting any new area. The Dayak villages of Central Kalimantan were a special treat in this regards. Not only was there a throng of adorable children, but they mostly clamored for us to take their photograph and they welcomed visitors.
Some of the children were embarrassed, laughing and covering their mouths when we approached. In almost every case though, all it took was taking a photograph of one of their friends, and then showing the camera LCD of the image. Immediately, all their friends came out and wanted their photos taken too. After taking photos like that, we would show the kids their photos on the camera LCD. The universal response was laughter, while all her friends would shriek with glee, and then want their photo taken.
The population of Indonesia is growing at an unsustainable rate, with 56% under the age of 25. As a result, every village we visited was swarming with children, many of them adorable. In the last 20 years, the economic situation of many families has improved to the point that motorcycles and scooters are everywhere.
Because these bikes are the main form of transportation, and most families have many children, it is common to see motorcycles with one or two parents, along with one or two infants on a motorcycle. Above shows a small sampling of such transportation. It is also common to see mobile phones, despite little access to internet in many of the villages.
Where there are lots of children, there are of course, also lots of groups of kids interacting. We captured many photos of them together after we had gotten individual images, and they had become comfortable with being photographed (middle-right and bottom).
John traveled with us, and was like a Pied Piper for children. His large size (over 6 ft), friendly manner, and ability to speak some Indonesian (he lives in Bali) made him a magnet for locals everywhere we traveled (center). They all wanted selfies with John.
Whenever we were around a mother with children, she would almost always gather her children around her, tell them to look at the camera, and pose as a family. When we showed them their image on the camera LCD, we got the same giggle and mouth-covering from the mother, as the children had shown.
In many ways, it was the children that were the stars of these village walks. The Dayak people of Central Kalimantan were all universally welcoming though, and appeared happy even though most were very poor.